New Political Party in Bangladesh
Yunus' Party Faces Challenges in Possible Election
Nobel Laureate Yunus formed a new party amid the political chaos that has enveloped the nation.
Using his recent media attention and widespread popularity, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus announced his intention to introduce a new party, Nagarik Shakti, into the expected Bangladesh elections.
Nagarik Shakti, which translates to “citizen’s power,” faces considerable obstacles in these elections—assuming that they actually take place. For the last few months, members of the Awami League, one of the two major parties in Bangladesh, have made accusations of election tampering against the ruling party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), according to BBC News.
Most of these allegations focus on the position of BNP President Iajuddin Ahmed as the head of the “caretaker government,” the organization intended to act as a neutral administrative power during elections to ensure the impartiality of the process, according to the BBC. The Awami League argued that the president’s position allowed for a bias toward the BNP, and threatened to boycott the elections altogether, along with 18 other parties. Despite Ahmed’s offer to step down, the caretaker government collapsed when the military forced the president to postpone the elections and declare a state of emergency.
Though the generals have promised to hold elections in the future, they have not given a specific date for the event, nor have they made any significant preparations, according to the Economist. This has not discouraged Yunus, however, who continues to prepare his nascent party for a serious struggle for power.
“We will immediately form committees in every village of the country to propagate the emerging venture and muster support for me in politics,” Yunus told reporters in Dhaka, according to Reuters.
Although Yunus remains cautiously optimistic about the possibility of elections, one needs only to look at Bangladesh’s neighbors to the south, Thailand and Burma, to see that military-led governments do not always live up to the promise of returning power to civilian hands.
Since taking power, military leaders have taken little action toward planning elections, focusing instead on arresting politicians suspected of corruption, according to the Economist. Under the state of emergency, the officers can hold these suspects indefinitely. However, the army has started using “speedy-trial tribunals,” a practice invented by BNP Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to handle serious offenses within 90 days. While Zia’s party did not include corruption as a “serious offenses,” the officers currently in charge decided to expand the definition, and have begun using the speedy-trial tribunals on many BNP members themselves.
In spite of the recent pressure on Zia and the BNP, she and her counterpart Sheik Hasina Wajed of the Awami League, control 90% of the vote, according to the Economist. Between the residual power of the two major parties, and the possibility of a more permanent military government, it looks like Yunus’s party has a difficult road ahead. However, Yunus told Reuters that his decision to get involved would not be influenced by adversity.
“There is no way I can stay away from politics any longer,” Yunus said. “I am determined…and it does not matter who says what about me.”
